Dust guard for railway journal boxes



I Jaye/220; Peirf Filed Sept. 27, 1944 P F NARDULLI DUST GUARD FOR RAILWAY JOURNAL BOXES Feb 7, 1950 DUSTGUABD FOR RAILWAY JOURNAD BOXES Peter 'F. Nardulli; flhicago; 111.; assi3nomto,;We t; ernwEngineering Trust, Chicago. Ill.-,, trustees;

Application September 27, 1944; Se'ri'al Now 5563059,? 1 Claim. (Cl. 2;86- 6) This invention relates to way car journal boxes.

In: a standard form of railway car theaxle' is rotatable with the wheels and supports the car through a journal box at the end ofthe axle. At. one endof the journal box thereis an-overdust guards: for railsized opening into which the end' of the axle 'ex-' tends. In order to prevent or' reduce the entrance of dust into the journal-box through the space between the axle and the axle-receiving opening" in the journal bo'x there is provided a dustguard. The dust guard surrounds the axle with a minimum amount of "clearance andis slidable inthe journal box as the axle and journal box move with respect to one another.

Itis one of the objects of the presentrinvention to provide an im'proveddust guard which can be used on. present day conventional journa'l boxes," which dust guard will be very-light in weight and will exert-a minimumpressureon the axle; It' is a further object of thepresentinvention to provide a dust. guard of the above mentioned character which is so constructed that the force exerted by the dust guard on thev axle -Will-be' spread-over a. large area, thereby: avoiding any: possibility of the dust guard cutting into the axle.

In the usual type. of railway car Journal box there is provided a dust guard receivinggroovet down movement in the-groove the grooveis neces-v sarily. made oversizedforthe thickness of thedust. guard to allow: such freedomof-upfl and downmovement; Thisirequently. results in vibration orrattlin'g of the dust guard in a direction axiallyv of the axle, which becomes accentuated as wear takes place reducing the thickness of the dust guard. It is one of the objects of the present invention to provide a construction wherein the dustguard is held against rattling or vibration even though clearance is providedinthedust guard-receiving. groove to permit freedom of limited up 'and'down orside movement of the dust: guard, and even though an appreciable amount of wear on thedust. guard may have taken-place. This accomplished, in thxpreferred embodiment-of .thespresent" invention, by providing spring means for constantly urging the dust guard to-its. limiting-position. in a direction axially of the railway car axle.

In accordance with the preferred embodiment of thepresent invention the dust guard-comprises a very thin plate. The plate is made very thin in order to reduce to a minimum its weight.

Becauseof the. thinness: .oi therdustv guard: plate there :provided-z-means ifor preventing :wear: on; theidustfguardsplate :asztheplate: moves :its. lime: itedfiamourit while use.- lThis wear-preventing, means. comprises flangez-.ext.ending around the entire peripheryofithe'. platet It is. the flan e which rubs; against the Journal box as the dust. guard is moved up; and .dowxror :sidewaysz in the box; thus.relievingrtheathin.zdust. plate of all wear;

In order. to prevent-xthevthin dusteplatewfmm cutting .intosthe axle-the plate is providedi withea. flange around itsientire axle-receiving; opening; which flange. increases the bearingvarea. between:

the dust guard and:.th'e..axle;.-thusrreducingthe-.

unit pressure of :the .dust ,guardronthe axle and preventing cuttingof theaxle.

Sincethe dust guardplateis spring :pressed :to its: limiting position vin the .journal 'boxrthe: force which moves thetdust guard: up and down in its. very small motion within the-journal box must:

be transmitted to the 0111-281 peripheral-flange where the. resistance. to motion takes. place :due to the: friction. between thewOuter peripheral flange and the journal'box." In; accordancewith the present invention there isprQVided; special The attainment of the above and further ob jects of :the present invention will be; apparent fromv the. following :specificationstaken: in con-J junction with the: accompanying .drawing. form-.1 ing a part thereof.

In thedrawing:

Figure '1- is a top-Jview'oftheend of .a. railway: car axle and a journal boxthereon;

Figure 2 is an enlarged sectionalzview taken along the line .22 of Figure l and looking: in-the'r direction of the: arrows;

Figure: 3 is a. sectional-view!taken-valencytheline 3-3'ofrFigure"2 and lookingiinthe direction of the arrows; and

Figure-.4 is a sectionalview taken along the Refefence'maynow-behadmore particularly to the drawing wherein reference numerals designate like parts "throughout. At" 1 there shown a portion of 'a railway car axle theme of which extendsinto a journal box 2 of the usual construction. The journal box has a slot 3 for receiving a dust guard. The dust guard is lowered into the slot and then the top of the slot is closed by a closure plate or key 4 before the journal box is mounted on the axle, as is well known in the art.

The journal box has an axle-receiving opening 6 through which the axle I extends. The opening is of a size appreciably larger than the diameter of the axle to allow for a certain limited amount of up and down movement of the journal box with respect to the axle, and especially to allow relative movement between the journal box and the axle as wear takes place on the bearing shoes within the journal box, as is well known in the art. The dust guard of the present invention is indicated by the reference numeral I and comprises an aluminum casting. The dust guard has a central circular opening I3 for receiving the axle, said opening being of a diameter only very slightly in excess of the diameter of the axle, merely to allowsurficient clearance between the axle and the dust guard as the axle rotates. This clearance may be of the order of of an inch. The dust guard comprises a very thin metal plate I4 having an integral flange I around the entire periphery of the opening I3. This flange increases the bearing area between the dust guard and the axle. In addition, the thin plate I4 has a flange I6 around its outerperiphery. It also has similar strengthening ribs I'I, I8 and I9 between the flanges I5 and IS. The entire structure including the thin plate I4. and the flanges I5 through I9 constitute one integral casting.

A pair of steel leaf clock springs 2Il20 are secured on the same face of the thin plate I4 on opposite sides of the axle-receiving opening I3. Each spring is secured to the plate I4 at one end of the leaf spring in any desired manner as, for instance, by a rivet 2|, and at its opposite end bears against but is not joined to the plate I4.

As may be seen from Figure 3, the journal box slot 3 for receiving the dust guard is of a width slightly in excess of the thickness of the flange I6. The axle-receiving opening 6 in the journal box is of appreciably greater diameter than the axle-receiving opening I3 in the dust guard but of a sufficiently small diameter that the outer flange I6 of the dust guard does not come over the opening 6 in the journal box. ZII bear against the interior wall or annulus 24 on theinside of the journal box, as may be seen from Figure 3, and thus constantly maintain the dust guard in its extreme right hand position as seen in Figure 3. The springs 20 maintain a sufficient pressure of the dust guard against the inner surface ofv the wall 25 of the journal box to prevent any rattling or vibration of the journal box but to permit a limited up and down movement of the dust guard as the journal and axle move vertically (or horizontally) with respect to one another in the limited permissible amount of movement usual in such constructions. Since it is the flanges I5 and I6 of the dust guard which bear and rub against the journal box as the dust guard moves in the journal box, it is apparent that the flanges relieve the thin plate I4 of the dust guard of any wear that would otherwise take place if the plate I4 were to rub directly against a surface of the journal box. Furthermore, the flanges I'I, I8 and I9 serve to transmit any forces from the flange I5 to the flange I6 and thus reduce the strain on the thin metal section I4 as the dust guard ismoved. This therefore permits The sprin s the provision of a very thin plate I4. Although the plate I4 is made very thin it cannot cut into the axle I because of the large bearing area between the dust guard and the axle provided by the flange I5.

The dust guard may be used without the springs 20-20 as are standard dust guards. When that is the case the flanges I5-I6 bear sometimes on the surface 25 and sometimes on the surface 26 of the journal box. In either case the flanges protect the thin plate I4 from wear because the flanges extend from both faces of the plate I 4.

From the above description it is apparent that by the present invention there is provided a dust guard which is not only economical of construction but is also very light in weight, durable and not subject to rattling or vibration within the journal box regardless of the amount of wear that may take place between the dust guard and the journalbox.

In compliance with the requirements of the patent statutes I have here shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention. It is, however, to be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise construction here shown, thesame being merely illustrative of the principles of the invention. What is considered new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent 1s:

A dust guard for a railway axle journal box having an axle-receiving opening and a dust guard-receiving section surrounding said opening, said dust guard comprising a thin metal plate also having an axle-receiving opening and having a flange surrounding its axle-receiving opening to provide increased bearing area between the dust guard and an axle when an axle is extended through said openings, said dust guard also having a flange around the outer periphery thereof, the edge of the outer flange being adapted to bear against the journal box for taking the wear on the dust guard as the same moves back and forth in the journal box, the flanges extending both forwardly and rearwardly of the plate so that opposite edges of the flanges protect the opposite surfaces of the thin plate against contacting with and wearing on the journal box, stiffening ribs between the inner and outer flanges of the dust guard for relieving the stresses in the thin plate as the plate moves up and down in the axle-receiving section of the journal box, and leaf spring means secured to one face of the guard and located between the flanges and having a part thereof projecting from the metal plate an amount in excess of the width of the flanges.

PETER F. N ARDULLI.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Great Britain 1906 

